The block of Aurora Avenue North in Seattle, near where the city conducted its latest sting. Photo by Matt M. This grand opening was to happen somewhere in North Seattle — call for the address.
But the ad, posted on a site that knowingly allowed users to advertise prostitution, was not really for a newly opened brothel either. It was, rather, the bait in a police sting, the second in as many years from the Seattle Police Department. The first, known as the Euro Spa operation , ended in the arrests of over men in Almost every case that was not a guilty plea in the first Euro Spa operation was dismissed by either the judge or jury and the one guilty verdict that resulted from the sting was overturned on appeal.
The critics doubt this second round will be different. At the same time, some sex workers argue the operations are misguided, criminalizing what they consider a safer form of prostitution while letting actual human traffickers off the hook. But when the police pick up sex workers, instead of taking them to jail, the undercover officer drives to an RV or some other outpost where they are offered counseling and advice from members of the Organization for Prostitution Survivors, a support organization made up of former sex workers.
That operation resulted in arrests and received widespread media attention. Upon entering, they would meet one of several undercover officers posing as a sex worker. The two parties would agree, the man would hand over the money and the officer would give a signal to the arrest team hiding in an adjacent room. The design and execution of the operations is the work of the Seattle Police Department.
Meanwhile, 61 cases were dismissed, either by the judge or a jury declining to pass down a guilty verdict. Most were defendants who could not afford the fines associated with pleading guilty, said Thomas-Kennedy. The prosecution had issues proving whether or not the men knew what they were agreeing to, especially when language barriers were an issue. There were also problems with a lack of witnesses. One SPD employee involved was Det. Salvatore Ditusa, who was placed on leave after using a racial epithet while working off-duty and then left the department shortly thereafter.
